More People Speak English in Jordan
"Clap, clap and shout hooray, Kira's here today!" - everyone was made to feel welcome as we sang all the children's names at playgroup. We'd helped to set up all the toys beforehand together with2 other foreign mums and then enjoyed meeting 8 local mums and their children. The children loved playing with the different things, singing songs, making coloured pasta necklaces for craft and had a snack time, whilst the mums relaxed a bit with a cup of tea and lemon drizzle cake that I'd made! It was good to talk with the Jordanian mums, mostly in English as they like an opportunity to practise.
Kira and Isaiah at playgroup
Working Mums
Playgroups are a new concept in Jordan, with few groups, but in Yemen they are non-existent. This one was on Saturday morning which is the 2nd day of the weekend here and interestingly most of the mums were middle class and working during the week. They valued the opportunity to spend time with their children in a fun, creative and safe environment. In contrast, most Yemeni women stay at home to look after the (many) children, clean the house and spend about 3 hours cooking lunch.
Driving Standards are Better than Yemen, but that's not saying much!
We jumped into a taxi home which was driven by a slightly crazy taxi driver. When we came to Jordan back in 2003 we thought the driving was very crazy compared to UK but, this time round, we think it's quite good compared to Yemen. We've been amazed to see people giving way at roundabouts and using their indicators.
Timekeeping is just as bad in Jordan as in Yemen
We waited and waited and wondered what to do! We'd invited our neighbour for dinner at 6pm but at 6:20pm she texted to say that she was sorry she was late and would be with us in 20 minutes. By 7pm the children were getting hungry so I telephoned her and she said she was 10 minutes away. She thought we would have started eating without her, rather than waiting! Finally over an hour and 15 minutes late, she arrived for dinner!
People have pets in Jordan
It was a wonderful time with our neighbour and worth the wait. The children were able to pop next door and stroke the neighbour's cat. It isn't so strange to have pets in Jordan and there's quite a few pet shops, near our house, selling birds and fish. In Yemen, cats and dogs are considered too dirty to allow in the house.
Health and Safety is Just as Bad as Yemen
Paul left dinner early to go out to watch the Champions League final with friends at one of the hotels. Just as in Yemen, everyone in Jordan seems to support Barcelona, so were very pleased with the result. The standard of technical competence amongst the hotel staff and the level of health and safety standards were all too familiar to Paul in comparison to Yemen. One of the projectors was not getting the TV signal, so they turned the screen round to enable all the spectators to see the other one. There was quite a high wind, which threatened to blow the screen over and knock the projector into the swimming pool. The spectators sat on the other side of the pool - perilously close to it. We hoped that no-one would leap up to celebrate too enthusiastically and fall into the pool, and that this would not happen at the same time as the projector falling in. Thankfully, the match finished with no electrocutions and everyone except the few Man Utd supporters went home happy.
